Leszek Balcerowicz is a
PolishPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
economist, the former chairman of the
National Bank of PolandNarodowy Bank Polski is the central bank of Poland. It controls the issuing of Poland's currency, the złoty. The Bank is headquartered in Warsaw, and has branches in every major Polish town...
and Deputy Prime Minister in
Tadeusz Mazowiecki'sTadeusz Mazowiecki is a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.-Biography:Mazowiecki comes from a Polish...
government. He is famous for implementing the Polish economic transformation program in the 1990s, a
shock therapyIn economics, shock therapy refers to the sudden release of price and currency controls, withdrawal of state subsidies, and immediate trade liberalization within a country, usually also including large scale privatization of previously public owned assets....
commonly referred to as the Balcerowicz Plan.
He is a professor at the world’s first university institute of postgraduate studies and training in European affairs
College of EuropeThe College of Europe is an independent university institute of postgraduate European studies with the main campus in Bruges, Belgium...
.
Biography
In 1970 he graduated with distinction from the Foreign Trade faculty of the Central School of Planning and Statistics in
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
(now the
Warsaw School of EconomicsWarsaw School of Economics is the oldest economic university in Poland.The Warsaw School of Economics was founded in 1906 as a private school under the name August Zieliński Private Trade Courses for Men. On 30 July 1919 it became a separate legal entity and was granted the status of an...
).
Balcerowicz received his MBA from
St. John's UniversitySt. John's University is a private, Roman Catholic, coeducational university located in New York City, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1870, the school was originally located in the borough of Brooklyn in the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant...
in New York, in 1974 and doctorate from the Warsaw School of Economics in 1975.
He was a member of the Polish
communist partyA political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
(
Polish United Workers' PartyThe Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the People's Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism.- The Party's Program and Goals :...
) from 1969 until the declaration of
martial law in PolandMartial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
, in 1981. In the late 1970s he participated in an economic-advisory team associated with the prime minister of
People's Republic of PolandThe People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
. In 1978–1980 he worked at Institute of Marxism-Leninism. Later he became an economics expert in the independent trade union Solidarity, and was forced to leave the communist party.
From September 1989 to August 1991 and also between October 31, 1997 and June 8, 2000 he held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and
Finance MinisterThe finance minister is a cabinet position in a government.A minister of finance has many different jobs in a government. He or she helps form the government budget, stimulate the economy, and control finances...
of Poland. Between 1995 and 2000 he was the chairman of
Freedom UnionThe Freedom Union was a liberal democratic party in Poland. It was founded on March 20, 1994 out of the merger of the Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Congress . Both of these parties had roots in the Solidarity trade union movement. It represented European democratic and liberal...
, then a centrist political party. On December 22, 2000 he became the Chairman of the National Bank of Poland. He was also a columnist for
WprostWprost is a weekly newsmagazine in Poland. It was founded on December 5, 1982 as a regional magazine in Greater Poland, but since 1989 it has been distributed nationwide. The editorial office is currently located in Warsaw. Wprost is an opinion weekly focused on politics and society. Marek Król is...
, a popular Polish news magazine.
On November 11, 2005, the President of Poland,
Aleksander KwaśniewskiAleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the communist government in the 1980s...
, awarded L. Balcerowicz with the country's highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle, for his contribution to Poland's economic transformation. In 2006 he was elected member of
Galeria Chwały Polskiej EkonomiiThe membership in Galeria Chwały Polskiej Ekonomii is an outstanding award for Polish economists.- Idea :In 2005 the Polish edition of Germanys leading business magazine Manager Magazin established Galeria Chwały Polskiej Ekonomii , which is similar to a business and economic...
, a hall of fame for outstanding Polish economists.
Balcerowicz is a member of the
Commission on Legal Empowerment of the PoorThe Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor was an independent international organization, hosted by the United Nations Development Programme , and established in 2005 as the “first global initiative to focus on the link between exclusion, poverty, and the law.” Drawing upon three years of...
, an independent initiative hosted by the UNDP and the first global initiative to focus specificially on the link between exclusion, poverty and the law. He is also a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the
Group of ThirtyThe Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of leading financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sectors related to these issues...
, and is a Board member of renowned Washington, D.C. think-tank the Peterson Institute. Fellow of
Collegium InvisibileCollegium Invisibile is an academic society in Poland, founded in 1995, that affiliates outstanding Polish students with distinguished scholars in accordance with the idea of liberal education...
.
Since June 11, 2008 Balcerowicz has been a member of the board of Bruegel, the Brussels-based
think tankA think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
on international economics.
Balcerowicz Plan
The Balcerowicz Plan was a series of reforms, which sought to end
hyperinflationIn economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...
and balance the national budget. The prices of most consumer goods were freed and caps for annual increases established in state-sector employees' wages. Poland's currency, the Złoty was made convertible within the country's borders. This resulted in a substantial increase in prices and had forced state-owned companies to become competitive. This amounted to a real shock to the Polish economy.
The reforms were controversial and made Balcerowicz an object of harsh criticism, especially in his homeland. On the other hand most economists agree that without introducing such radical changes, Poland's economic success and steady economic growth would not have been possible. Since 1989, Poland's annual growth rate was one of the highest of all post-Communist economies, and have not entered economic recession.
Honorary Doctorates
- 1993 University of Aix-en-Provence,
France France
- 1994 University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
, 
United Kingdom United Kingdom
- 1996 DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
, 
United States United States
- 1998:
- University of Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
, 
Poland PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is located in Toruń, Poland. It was named after Nicolaus Copernicus who was born in this town in 1473.-The beginnings of higher education in Toruń:...
, Poland PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- Staffordshire University
Staffordshire University is a university with its main campus based in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and with other campuses in Stafford, Lichfield and Shrewsbury.- History :...
, United Kingdom United Kingdom
- University of Dundee
The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....
, United Kingdom United Kingdom
- 1999 University of Economics in Bratislava
University of Economics in Bratislava is the oldest university of economics in Slovakia.-History:The university was established in 1940 as a private university under the name...
, 
Slovakia SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
- 2001 Viadrina European University,
Germany Germany
- 2002:
- University of the Pacific
University of the Pacific is a small private university in the Jesús María District of Lima, Peru. It was established in 1962 by a group of Peruvian entrepreneurs supported by the Society of Jesus...
, 
Peru PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
- University of Iaşi,
Romania RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
- 2004 University of Duisburg
-History:Its origins date back to the 1555 decision to create a university for the unified duchies at the Lower Rhine that were later to be merged into Prussia. After the foundation of an academic college in 1559, a university was founded in 1655 by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, the...
, Germany Germany
- 2006:
- University of Economics in Katowice
The University of Economics in Katowice , is the only state university specializing in Economics and Business studies in the region. It has an annual enrollment about 13,500 students, and has 480 teachers. It was founded in 1937 as the College of Social and Economic Sciences, closing because of...
, Poland PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- Poznań University of Economics
The Poznań University of Economics is one of the most prestigious business schools in Poland.The Poznań University of Economics is a major academic institution in the western part of the country attracting students from many parts of Poland. It is the biggest and oldest business university in the...
, Poland PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- Wrocław University of Economics, Poland Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- University of Gdańsk, Poland Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- 2007 Warsaw School of Economics
Warsaw School of Economics is the oldest economic university in Poland.The Warsaw School of Economics was founded in 1906 as a private school under the name August Zieliński Private Trade Courses for Men. On 30 July 1919 it became a separate legal entity and was granted the status of an...
, Poland PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- 2008:
- University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland and one of the most prestigious, ranked as best Polish university in 2010 and 2011...
, Poland PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, 
Australia Australia
- 2009 Babeş-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...
Romania RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
External links